Here is our straw bale cob house in North Carolina, built by our son whose school, Mud Dauber School of Natural Building, teaches people how to build this way themselves. We also added solar panels on the roof, so our plug-in hybrid runs on solar energy much of the time.
The photo was taken in December and shows the rich source of seeds for birds from native plants that produced nectar for pollinators in the summer. Birds are always there, working on the seedheads and on the ground below. It’s a treat being able to watch them through the windows enjoying these seeds!
We’ve added a lot of native herbaceous plants as well as native shrubs so we expect to see more and more birds. We also have a number of snags in the forest, so we have many happy woodpeckers (and many other birds) who find homes and food.
Now about 3-4 years after planting, we have lots of seeds and berries for birds in the winter and lots of nectar and pollen for bees and other insects in the summer.
It was a joy to hear the busy buzzing of all the bees this fall!
Living area
This is the living area with the kitchen in the back (before we moved our stuff in). The first picture is taken from the front door looking toward the kitchen, and the second picture is taken from the kitchen looking toward the front door. One of the bedrooms is near the front door, and the other one is down the hall leading to the office.
The earthen floors — made from the clay excavated on the property — absorb the heat from the south-facing windows. We’ve since installed tight-fitting shades for these windows to keep the heat in at night in winter and the heat out in the hot days of summer.
Below is the kitchen and pantry. The wood rafters and tree at the corner (as well as the clay for the cob) are harvested from the site. The white device at the top of the wall is the mini-split heat pump that heats and cools when necessary, although a sunny day in the winter keeps the living area cozy!
The bathroom
The bathroom, which along with the kitchen, has on-demand heating rather than a conventional tank that uses energy to keep the water warm all the time. The walk-in shower was designed so that it could be wheelchair-accessible.
The office and back of the house
This is the office. Opposite the desk is a laundry area for the washing machine. (No need for an electric dryer since we dry our laundry outside here as well as at home.)
This is a view of the curved wall in the back of the house from the outside. With straw bales and cob, it’s possible to make curved walls.
The back porch: north-facing and perfect for a hot summer day or even a warmish winter one. It now is screened-in since this photo was taken.
The landscape
Here’s the man-made Creekside pond in December, complete with frogs and salamanders! We’ve been pretty successful in removing non-native plants around the house, and we’re planting more and more native herbaceous and woody plants each year. Since this photo was taken, we’ve also added cardboard covered with mulch to make paths and smother any non-natives still around.
Here’s a view of a part of our forest path in December.
This area had been logged before we bought it, but fortunately, we have quite a few native trees left — but also many non-native invasive plants. We’ve been removing the worst of them (princess tree, tree of heaven, privets, honeysuckle vine etc.) as we can, encouraging the young native trees and planting native shrubs.
Here’s some of the creek in December.
There are lots of beautiful boulders along the edge.
The Google map below show our small house in the center.
Our creatures
Our favorite bird is our barred owl, who sits on a particular horizontal branch near our carport where he patiently watches for any creatures in our pond. He doesn’t mind getting his picture taken!
Here’s a list of birds we’ve seen in the past few years.
We have three grand-dogs. Ellie and Boomer are our son’s country dogs who live next to us.
And Mia is our daughter’s city dog, who lives in Chapel Hill.
We enjoy our son’s chickens – and they love the Cheerios we bring them each day as a treat!
We love the beautiful sunsets!
